ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO TAPPEI NAGATSUKI, THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF RE:ZERO, THIS IS A TRANSLATION OF THE FREE JAPANESE WEB NOVEL INTO ENGLISH

ARC 4

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Chapter 48 [A Price For The Tea Party]

He heard a roar.

Compelled by hunger to extend his tongue to catch the blood dripping from his right hand, Subaru heard the roar in the distance. Rage, it was full of rage. Furious. Someone was enraged. Someone was furious. A voice of someone enraged to the point of madness.

――It didn’t matter. For now, he just wanted to sate his hunger.

Chew, chew, chew, but it wasn’t enough.
What was two fingers supposed to sate? And how much of this thirst could some dripping blood quench?
Not enough. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

Even if he devoured his entire right hand, then devoured his left hand as well, even if he devoured his whole body, it still wouldn’t be enough. There was no limit to this hunger. He simply craved what he craved. And so――

[???: ――HNNGYAAAaa!!]

[Subaru: ――――WHAT THE F!?]

Laying sideways on the grass, the devastating strike came from directly above his head, sending his body bouncing up from the shockwave before slamming back into the ground. The sheer force warped the earth, leaving a crater in the small hill with Subaru in the center.
Then, the assailant, whose fist was still stuck to the back of Subaru’s head, took a ragged breath, and,

[???: That’s enough! Why does everyone always have to fight……? Resorting to violence is the worst……the worst……hg]

The voice, half in tears, descended from above, while, savoring the taste of mud, consciousness limped back into Subaru. At the same time, he felt a drop of water landing on the back of his head, guiding him to look up.
There was the vague outline of a young, blonde girl, slowly disappearing, and in tears.

――What just happened to him? Pushing himself off the ground, Subaru understood when he noticed that his right hand had been restored.

Quickly, he turned to the disappearing girl,

[Subaru: Th-thank you for healing me……!]

[Minerva: ……Hmpf]

The Witch turned her face away, sulking as she faded.
But, just before she vanished completely, Subaru caught a glimpse of a blush on her cheeks, and a smile which she didn’t manage to hide.

Once the blonde girl―― the Witch of Wrath vanished from the scene, she was replaced by the graceless coffin once again,

[Daphne: Neru-Neru’s such a meddler, gees… Say, did you learn anything at least? Diid you? Subaruu~un?]

Hearing these nonchalant words coming from inside the coffin, Subaru jumped to his feet and instantly scuttled away from the crater while shooting Daphne a look of caution.
Seeing this, Daphne gave her nose a snort,

[Daphne: Right~right, you should be careful… After all, eat or be eaten is the only relationship in this world…]

[Subaru: I don’t wanna think of it as that kind of bloodthirsty place……! Anyway what just happened!? It was only for a short while, but…… I actually went insane]

[Daphne: That was the maddening hunger… Extreme hunger can turn people into something worse than beasts. If you looked into my right eye too, it would’ve been even more interesting, you know?]

[Subaru: ……you’re kidding]

A magical eye, or something of the sort.
Although Ram’s clairvoyance would also count as an eye-power, her ability didn’t really have much offensive potential, so Daphne’s was definitely way scarier.
Perhaps it could be called the “Eye of Hunger” or the “Eye of Starvation”. The moment Subaru looked into her left eye, he ate his own fingers for a hunger he wasn’t even aware of.
He was so famished that he forgot the existence of pain, and everything in sight was food to sate his insatiable hunger. In other words――

[Subaru: Is that… how the Great Rabbit sees the world……?]

[Daphne: Those children were born when Daphne was reeaaaaally starving, so they took after me…… they really understand what it feels like to want to eat each other, you know?]

[Subaru: How can you say that so lightly…… don’t you feel sad to have given birth to creatures like that? Since you’re lecturing me all high and mighty, then you probably know what that hunger feels like. Having your own children…… children… go through that……]

[Daphne: ――? But, even if Great Rabbit’s belly goes hungry, it doesn’t mean Daphne’s belly has to go hungry too?]

[Subaru: ……I was an idiot for asking]

Like parallel lines. No matter how far they stretch, there was no way he could ever understand this Witch.
The Mabeasts she claimed to be her children, were really just emergency foods she could pick up and eat when she felt hungry.
Birthed from her own body and eaten by herself, it was the ultimate form of self-sufficiency.

[Subaru: If you don’t bother anyone and go hole up in some other dimension to be self-sufficient there, I guess no one would be too hung up about that, huh]

[Daphne: Say, Subaruun, what is it that you actually want to ask Daphne? If all you want to do is take hits at Daphne, then I’m already getting hungry from staying awake so long… and would rather take a nap now…]

Turning her face away inside the coffin, all the strength drained from Daphne’s body, as if ready to fall asleep.
He finally understood why she kept herself in her mobile coffin, all bound in restraints. Keeping her threat contained for the sake of the outside world―― was not the reason.
Instead, it was only to reduce the calories burned from the movements of her limbs so she wouldn’t feel as hungry.
This may not be the case for her blindfolds, but that was probably to prevent her magic eyes from draining her stamina.

This girl’s existence was complete entirely in herself.
A pure mass of “The Desire to Eat”―― all quite fitting for the name, “Witch of Gluttony”.

[Subaru: Honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s pointless to ask this, but……. how do I destroy the Great Rabbit?]

When can I be the first!
I always seem to miss the upload for some reason living in a time zone nearly 11 hrs ahead doesn’t help either.
Roanz11 you are always the first ^_^
Anyways thank you chicken sama for the chapter! 🙂

Minerva the “Incarnation of the Thirst for Tsundere” hahaha
Nice one, but considering tsundere are violent and Minerva is wrath and her reaction this chapter it might actually be the case. XD
Too many best girl candidates and Subaru still has to meet the witch of lust.

Okay…Subaru eating his own hand and savoring the taste of his own blood…is really creepy.. Good thing Minerva showed up and punched back to his normal healthy sane self.oh dangit, punching someone to heal them is still so hilariously wrong for me xD